2011-2012 Bill 3594: Department of Corrections - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly

119th Session, 2011-2012

H. 3594

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill

Sponsors: Rep. Crawford

Document Path: l:\council\bills\swb\5094cm11.docx

Companion/Similar bill(s): 3267, 3469

Introduced in the House on February 3, 2011

Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Department of Corrections

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date Body Action Description with journal page number

2/3/2011 House Introduced and read first time (House Journalpage9)

2/3/2011 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary (House Journalpage9)

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

2/3/2011

A BILL

TO AMEND CHAPTER 21, TITLE 24, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT, CREATION, AND OPERATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION, PAROLE AND PARDON SERVICES AND THE BOARD OF PROBATION, PAROLE AND PARDON SERVICES, SO AS TO TRANSFER ALL FUNCTIONS, POWERS, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITY STATUTORILY EXERCISED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PROBATION, PAROLE AND PARDON SERVICES TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, AND TO CREATE A DIVISION OF PROBATION, PAROLE AND PARDON SERVICES WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; AND TO AMEND ARTICLE 3, CHAPTER 19, TITLE 63, RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT, CREATION, AND OPERATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE, SO AS TO TRANSFER ALL FUNCTIONS, POWERS, DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITY STATUTORILY EXERCISED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND TO CREATE A DIVISION OF JUVENILE JUSTICE WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Chapter 21, Title 24 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

“CHAPTER 21

Probation, Parole and Pardon

Article 1

Board of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services

Section 24215. As used in this chapter:

(1) ‘Administrative monitoring’ means a form of monitoring by the department Division of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services beyond the end of the term of supervision in which the only remaining condition of supervision not completed is the payment of financial obligations. Under administrative monitoring, the only condition of the monitoring shall be the requirement that reasonable progress be made toward the payment of financial obligations. The payment of monitoring mandated fees shall continue. When an offender is placed on administrative monitoring, he shall register with the department’s representative in his county, notify the department of his current address each quarter, and make payments on financial obligations owed, until the financial obligations are paid in full or a consent order of judgment is filed.

(2) ‘Criminal risk factors’ mean characteristics and behaviors that, when addressed or changed, affect a person’s risk for committing crimes. The characteristics may include, but not be limited to, the following risk and criminogenic need factors: antisocial behavior patterns; criminal personality; antisocial attitudes, values, and beliefs; poor impulse control; criminal thinking; substance abuse; criminal associates; dysfunctional family or marital relationships; or low levels of employment or education.

(3) ‘Department Divison’ means the Department Division of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

(4) ‘Evidencebased practices’ mean supervision policies, procedures, and practices that scientific research demonstrates reduce recidivism among individuals on probation, parole, or postcorrectional supervision.

(5) ‘Financial obligations’ mean fines, fees, and restitution either ordered by the court or statutorily imposed.

(6) ‘Hearing officer’ means an employee of the department who conducts preliminary hearings to determine probable cause on alleged violations committed by an individual under the supervision of the department and as otherwise provided by law. This includes, but is not limited to, violations concerning probation, parole, and community supervision. The hearing officer also conducts preliminary hearings and final revocation hearings for supervised furlough, youthful offender conditional release cases, and such other hearings as required by law.

Section 242110. (A) The department Division of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services is governed by its director. The director must be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. To qualify for appointment, the director must have a baccalaureate or more advanced degree from an institution of higher learning that has been accredited by a regional or national accrediting body, which is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and must have at least ten years of training and experience in one or more of the following fields: parole, probation, corrections, criminal justice, law, law enforcement, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, or social work a division of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

(B) The Board of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services is composed of seven members. The terms of office of the members are for six years. Six of the seven members must be appointed from each of the congressional districts and one member must be appointed at large. The atlarge appointee shall have at least five years of work or volunteer experience in one or more of the following fields: parole, probation, corrections, criminal justice, law, law enforcement, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, or social work. Vacancies must be filled by gubernatorial appointment with the advice and consent of the Senate for the unexpired term. If a vacancy occurs during a recess of the Senate, the Governor may fill the vacancy by appointment for the unexpired term pending the consent of the Senate, provided the appointment is received for confirmation on the first day of the Senate’s next meeting following the vacancy. A chairman must be elected annually by a majority of the membership of the board. The chairman may serve consecutive terms.

(C) The Governor shall deliver an appointment within sixty days of the expiration of a term, if an individual is being reappointed, or within ninety days of the expiration of a term, if an individual is an initial appointee. If a board member who is being reappointed is not confirmed within sixty days of receipt of the appointment by the Senate, the appointment is considered rejected. For an initial appointee, if confirmation is not made within ninety days of receipt of the appointment by the Senate, the appointment is deemed rejected. The Senate may by resolution extend the period after which an appointment is considered rejected. If the failure of the Senate to confirm an appointee would result in the lack of a quorum of board membership, the seat for which confirmation is denied or rejected shall not be considered when determining if a quorum of board membership exists.

(D) Within ninety days of a parole board member’s appointment by the Governor and confirmation by the Senate, the board member must complete a comprehensive training course developed by the department using training components consistent with those offered by the National Institute of Corrections or the American Probation and Parole Association. This training course must include classes regarding the following:

(1) the elements of the decision making process, through the use of evidencebased practices for determining offender risk, needs and motivations to change, including the actuarial assessment tool that is used by the parole agent;

(2) security classifications as established by the Department of Corrections;

(3) programming and disciplinary processes and the department’s supervision, case planning, and violation process;

(4) the dynamics of criminal victimization; and

(5) collaboration with corrections related stakeholders, both public and private, to increase offender success and public safety.

The department division must promulgate regulations setting forth the minimum number of hours of training required for the board members and the specific requirements of the course that the members must complete.

(E)(1) Each parole board member is also required to complete a minimum of eight hours of training annually, which shall be provided for in the department’s division’s annual budget. This annual training course must be developed using the training components consistent with those offered by the National Institute of Corrections or American Probation and Parole Association and must offer classes regarding:

(a) a review and analysis of the effectiveness of the assessment tool used by the parole agents;

(b) a review of the department’s division’s progress toward public safety goals;

(d) any information regarding promising and evidencebased practices offered in the corrections related and crime victim dynamics field.

The department division must promulgate regulations setting forth the specific criteria for the course that the members must complete.

(2) If a parole board member does not fulfill the training as provided in this section, the Governor, upon notification, must remove that member from the board unless the Governor grants the parole board member an extension to complete the training, based upon exceptional circumstances.

(F) The department division must develop a plan that includes the following:

(1) establishment of a process for adopting a validated actuarial risk and needs assessment tool consistent with evidencebased practices and factors that contribute to criminal behavior, which the parole board shall use in making parole decisions, including additional objective criteria that may be used in parole decisions;

(2) establishment of procedures for the department division on the use of the validated assessment tool to guide the department division, parole board, and agents of the department division in determining supervision management and strategies for all offenders under the department’s division’s supervision, including offender risk classification, and case planning and treatment decisions to address criminal risk factors and reduce offender risk of recidivism; and

(3) establishment of goals for the department division, which include training requirements, mechanisms to ensure quality implementation of the validated assessment tool, and safety performance indicators.

(G) The director division shall submit the plan in writing to the Sentencing Reform Oversight Committee no later than July 1, 2011. Thereafter, the department division must submit an annual report to the Sentencing Reform Oversight Committee on its performance for the previous fiscal year and plans for the upcoming year. The department division must collect and report all relevant data in a uniform format of both board decisions and field services and must annually compile a summary of past practices and outcomes.

Section 242111. The director and members of the board shall be subject to removal by the Governor pursuant to the provisions of Section 13240.

Section 242112. The members of the board shall draw no salaries, but each member shall be entitled to such per diem as may be authorized by law for boards, commissions, and committees, plus actual and necessary expenses incurred pursuant to the discharge of official duties.

Section 242113. (A) It is the duty of the director Director of the Department of Corrections to oversee, manage, and control the department division. The director shall develop written policies and procedures for the following:

(1) the supervising of offenders on probation, parole, community supervision, and other offenders released from incarceration prior to before the expiration of their sentence, which supervising shall be based on a structured decisionmaking guide designed to enhance public safety, which uses evidencebased practices and focuses on considerations of offenders’ criminal risk factors;

(2) the consideration of paroles and pardons and the supervision of offenders in the community supervision program and other offenders released from incarceration prior to the expiration of their sentence. The requirements for an offender’s participation in the community supervision program and an offender’s progress toward completing the program are to be decided administratively by the Department Division of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. No inmate or future inmate shall have a ‘liberty interest’ or an ‘expectancy of release’ while in a community supervision program administered by the department division;

(3) the operation of communitybased correctional services and treatment programs; and

(4) the operation of public work sentence programs for offenders as provided in item (1) of this subsection. This program also may be utilized as an alternative to technical revocations. The director shall establish priority programs for litter control along state and county highways. This must be included in the ‘public service work’ program.

(B) It is the duty of the board to consider cases for parole, pardon, and any other form of clemency provided for under law.

Section 242130. (A) A person who commits a ‘no parole offense’ as defined in Section 2413100 on or after the effective date of this section is not eligible for parole consideration, but must complete a community supervision program as set forth in Section 2421560 prior to before discharge from the sentence imposed by the court. For all offenders who are eligible for parole, the board shall hold regular meetings, as may be necessary to carry out its duties, but at least four times each year, and as many extra meetings as the chairman, or the Governor acting through the chairman, may order. The board may preserve order at its meetings and punish any disrespect or contempt committed in its presence. The chairman may direct the members of the board to meet as threemember panels to hear matters relating to paroles and pardons as often as necessary to carry out the board’s responsibilities. Membership on these panels shall be periodically rotated on a random basis by the chairman. At the meetings of the panels, any unanimous vote shall be considered the final decision of the board, and the panel may issue an order of parole with the same force and effect of an order issued by the full board pursuant to Section 2421650. Any vote that is not unanimous shall not be considered as a decision of the board, and the matter shall be referred to the full board which shall decide it based on a vote of a majority of the membership.

(B) The board may grant parole to an offender who commits a violent crime as defined in Section 16160 which is not included as a ‘no parole offense’ as defined in Section 2413100 on or after the effective date of this section by a twothirds majority vote of the full board. The board may grant parole to an offender convicted of an offense which is not a violent crime as defined in Section 16160 or a ‘no parole offense’ as defined in Section 2413100 by a unanimous vote of a threemember panel or by a majority vote of the full board.

Nothing in this subsection may be construed to allow any person who commits a ‘no parole offense’ as defined in Section 2413100 on or after the effective date of this section to be eligible for parole.

(D) Upon the request of a victim, the board may allow the victim and an offender to appear simultaneously before the board for the purpose of providing testimony.